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Guidance and Templates

Caltrans has defined data documentation standards and guidance which are to be followed by staff and its consultants when creating corporate data.  These resources support and promote consistency in how we document and share information related to data assets.  The Data Document Package (DOCX) has been created to standardize the documentation of datasets and systems.  Each section of the Data Documentation Package covers a separate topic area and has an associated template.

Each section of the Data Documentation Package covers a separate topic area for which templates are listed below.  Each topic area is linked to its associated template. The Data Assessment, Governance Scoping and Initiation Guide (DOCX) provides a method to determine which deliverables are needed and extends to tasks beyond simply documenting an existing or proposed dataset or system.

Templates:

  • Data Catalog (DDP-2) (XLSX) - fields needed to create entries for the Caltrans data catalog.
  • Corporate Data List (DDP-3) (XLSX) - list of data elements proposed or approved for designation as “corporate data” and designated authoritative sources of these elements.
  • Data Element Standards (DDP-4) (DOCX) - existing or proposed data element standards that apply to data within the defined scope.
  • Dataset Metadata (DDP-6) (XLSX) – documentation of dataset(s) packaged for end user consumption (addresses geospatial and non-geospatial data). For GIS data, please refer to Appendix E of the Data Documentation Package for a crosswalk of metadata fields to the ISO 19139 metadata fields.
  • Business Data Glossary Terms (DDP-7) (XLSX) - definitions of business terms represented by data entities or attributes.
  • Data Dictionary (DDP-8) (XLSX) – information about each data element. For GIS data, please refer to Appendix G of the Data Documentation Package for a crosswalk of data dictionary fields to the ISO 19139 metadata elements.
  • Business Rules (DDP-9) (XLSX) - rules that can be used to provide extended documentation of individual data elements or validate data element or dataset contents.
  • Data Quality Management Plan (DDP-10) (DOCX) – documentation of quality control and quality assurance measures applied to data as it is created/collected, maintained in systems, and exported for reporting or other purposes.

Other templates referenced in the Data Documentation Package will be added to this webpage over time.